


The Price We Paid

by rebelmeg



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Character Death, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 21:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17609075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg
Summary: Tony has a protocol for the Iron Man armor.  A worst case scenario type thing, the kind of thing he prepares for but hopes to never have to use.In the middle of the final battle to save the world, though... he has to use it.





	The Price We Paid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mitochondrials](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitochondrials/gifts).



> MIND THE TAGS, BABES, IT'S AS BAD AS YOU THINK IT'LL BE!
> 
> I want to place the blame for this ENTIRELY on [Delphy's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delphyn) shoulders. 
> 
> Also, I needed JARVIS for this, that's the only explanation I'll give.
> 
> And most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALI! YOU ASKED FOR IT, DARLING!

The battle… well, it wasn’t going their way. But they were going to win. They had what the other side didn’t, and it was working for them hard.

Desperation.

If they lost this battle, they lost the war. It had all come down to this, and it was all or nothing. Literally. They would not lose. They couldn’t.

The suit took another hit, and Tony winced. Even with the nanotech lying exactly against his skin, he still got pretty banged up. If he lived through this, he’d have to see about some kind of cushioning layer on the interior, seriously this time. Maybe he’d get through one damn fight without bruised ribs and a concussion.

“Sir, the suit can’t take much more of this kind of damage. It will weaken.”

“How is the tech holding up?”

“The supply of nanites is running low.”

“I always like to hear good news like this when I’m being attacked.”

“Perhaps we should move to a different part of the battle.”

“This is where I’m needed, JARVIS. Just keep me alive long enough to get through this and we’ll deal with the fallout later.”

Another jarring hit shook through his body, and Tony gasped through a spear of pain.

“Sir, you are receiving critical injuries.”

“Noticed.” Tony bit out, feeling the blood well up and soak into his clothing under the armor. “Just in case, activate Coffin Protocol.”

The AI’s hesitation spoke volumes, but Tony was too busy trying not to die to look into it. “JARVIS, damn it, acknowledge and promise me you’ll do it.”

“Sir… please do not make me do that.”

Another hit, and then another, one right after the other, and Tony had to blink through the sweat and blood that was running into his eyes as he yelled, “JARVIS, they need me, in any way they can get me! Now activate Coffin Protocol now!”

JARVIS didn’t verbally respond, but the words “Protocol Activated” flashed once across the HUD.

“Now work your magic and maximize what I’ve got left. We are not losing this fight.”

* * *

Steve’s breath was sawing in and out of his lungs in a way that strongly reminded him of being asthmatic again, the smoke and dust in the air stinging and aching. “Tony, we’ve gotta get ahead of this or we don’t have a chance.”

There was no reply, and Steve threw his shield with all his might, trying to cut a path. “Tony! Respond!”

It was JARVIS’ voice that replied a moment later, not Tony’s. “Sir’s comms have been damaged, Captain. I will relay messages on his behalf.”

“He alright?”

“Everything is fine, Captain Rogers.”

If he hadn’t been busy literally fighting for his life, maybe Steve would have heard the almost imperceptible lie in the AI’s all-too-human voice.

“Tell Tony to get up higher and pick them off before we get down here. Thor! Where are you? I need help over here.”

* * *

They had seen the battle coming long before it started, but it ended abruptly in comparison. And it didn’t feel like a triumphant success. More like a slightly less awful defeat.

Panting, hurting all over, Steve loosened his stiff fingers and let the shield fall to the ground for the final time. “Is it… it’s over? We’re done?”

“My scans show that it is indeed over. We have…won.” JARVIS’ voice had a hollow note to it, but Steve couldn’t blame him. The cost had been… so very high.

But they were done. They did it. They could finally stop now. Everything was gonna be okay somehow.

Steve’s legs all but went out from under him, and he let himself go. He had no idea how long they’d been fighting, how many hours they’d spent literally battling for their very lives and the lives of the entire universe. He’d have to ask Tony, he’d know.

And speaking of which, where was he?

Steve looked around, squinting through the smoky, ash-laden air, and finally spotted the Iron Man armor several yards away, just standing there. Probably just as overwhelmed and exhausted as he was.

Steve took a deep breath, intending to call out, but then he stopped.

Tony was holding… weirdly still. The suit wasn’t moving at all, just standing there, looking at nothing, almost at attention, like the armors did when they were empty and on display in the workshop. 

Steve paused as he stripped off his bloodied gloves. “Tony? You alright in there?”

There was no response, and Steve’s eyebrows furrowed. Hauling himself back to his feet with difficulty and a pained groan, he walked over, favoring his right leg that had taken a hit. He paused in front of the suit and knocked gently on the helmet, hoping to stir Tony from whatever stupor he had fallen into. The guy was probably asleep, actually. Lord knew they were all exhausted, and Tony was no super soldier. “Hey. Anybody home?”

With a faint whir, the helmet moved until the glowing eyes were looking at Steve. It was JARVIS’ voice that spoke. And it was heavy with the kind of despair that should not have been possible from an inhuman entity. “Captain… I am so sorry.”

Before Steve could say anything, before he could form words, and almost before the swooping sense of dread had clenched inside his chest… the faceplate lifted.

There wasn’t even any way to pretend he was sleeping. Tony’s eyes were closed, yes, but his skin was gray and slightly mottled, with a thick stream of congealed blood along the side of his face. 

It wasn’t even a matter of resuscitation.

He had been dead… for a while. Maybe hours.

All this information filed into Steve’s brain in the brief seconds he stared at that achingly familiar, lifeless face. Clinical. Informative. Impersonal.

And then the reality of it sank in.

“No,” Steve moaned, his bruised hands coming up to grip those preternaturally smooth metal shoulders. “No. Tony.”

“Steve?” Natasha’s voice was sharp behind him, and Steve turned to look at her, only to have to blink away tears.

Her worry and suspicion transformed to shattered heartbreak in the space of a moment. “No.”

Steve was all but pushed out of the way as Natasha rushed to the suit and tried to cup Tony’s face, and the supersoldier stumbled to the ground as her breathing turned fast and harsh and she fumbled for the release catch at the base of the helmet.

“No, no, no, no, no,” She was murmuring the words under her breath like a mantra, throwing the helmet aside and gasping out a sob when Tony’s head didn't move the slightest bit, rigor mortis already set in.

“No, JARVIS, no,” Her actions were more frantic now, hands shaking as she placed them on the sides of his face and shook him gently. “JARVIS, wake him up. Wake him up.”

“Natasha,”’ Steve’s voice ached, but he couldn’t make himself get up. He couldn’t find it in himself to reach out and help. He just… didn’t have the strength anymore.

JARVIS was obviously operating the suit, as he had been for who knew how long during the battle, and the armor slowly sank to it’s knees, then sprawled backwards on the ground, Natasha clinging to it the whole way, pleading.

The heavy sound of boots approaching told Steve it was Thor, but he turned to look anyway.

Thor’s face was streaked with dirt and sweat, and it was almost difficult to read his expression. But the moment he realized, the shock was starkly visible. And if it hadn’t been, the way Stormbreaker fell from his loose fingers and thudded to the ground would have made it clear.

“No. Oh, warriors of Valhalla, no.”

Bruce was just behind him, coming over the same rise Thor had just stopped on, and his tired eyes widened as he saw Natasha bent over the armor, her cries rising in volume and frequency, dismantling the armor one piece at a time and exposing the heavily damaged body inside.

Bruce just… broke. Of all of them, he’d been closest to Tony. His Science Bro. The first one of all of them to reach out and actually befriend Bruce, not treat him like something dangerous or fragile.

Sinking to his knees, Bruce fell forward on his hands and dug his fists into the dirt, clawed fingers digging deep ridges. A flush of green tinged his skin, and he moaned out a deep, agonized, “No…” before the color faded and it was just Bruce again. He was shaking so hard it was as if he were having a seizure, but Steve couldn’t tell if it was from holding the Hulk back, or just simply falling apart.

Clint appeared from the other direction, limping his way towards them across the battlefield, but as he got closer he slowed, and then stopped altogether. He looked at all of them in turn, then his gaze rested on the motionless armor. After what seemed an eternity, he finally closed the distance, and stood next Tony’s body.

Clint’s face was an empty mask. No sorrow, no hurt, no anger, just… a blank void. He stared at the unmoving, armor-covered body on the ground, and didn’t say a word.

Then he went over to Natasha where she was kneeling next to the armor and sobbing into her hands, and sank down next to her, wrapping his arms around her.

“JARVIS… how?” Steve could only manage a whisper, but the AI heard him. JARVIS was always listening.

“The suit was sustaining too much damage. I did what I could, but… there was only so much to be done. Sir… Sir initiated a program, a protocol for the worst case scenario, and activated it when he knew he might not survive. I could not take him from the battle. I could not make him stop. His injuries were too great, and I could do nothing.”

It hurt like nothing else had ever hurt before. Not even his transformation due to the serum had hurt like this. That was a paper cut to losing a limb. This was… a black hole swirling where his heart used to be.

“He left… he left a message.” JARVIS said, and a moment later they all gasped with renewed pain.

The audio feed was full of the sounds of battle, bursts of static, and Tony’s voice was strained, full of panic and pain and a horrible, wet, rattling gasp.

_“JARVIS, tell them I’m sorry. Tell the others I’m sorry.”_

_“Sir, please stop, you’re making it worse, you need to conserve—”_

_“Tell them I tried. It just wasn’t enough. And I’m sorry.”_

_“Sir, I’m begging you, don’t—”_

_“I’m so sorry.”_

_“Sir—”_

The feed cut off.

Natasha was sobbing, the kind of ugly, hurt sounds that exploded out of the chest and were utterly inconsolable. Tears streamed down her face, dripping onto her filthy, torn uniform, and onto smooth, red and gold metal.

Clint still had his arms around her, and he still had that horrible, expressionless mask on his face. No emotion bled through. Nothing. He just stared off into space, into the empty middle distance, his knees inches from the immobile armor on the ground.

Bruce had his hands over his face, muffling the sounds of his weeping. His bare chest and shoulders were shaking with the force of it, with the crushing strength of his grief.

Thor had sank to his knees, his hands resting lightly on his thighs, and his face was tipped up to the sky. His eyelashes were clumped together with dust and tears, and exquisite agony played on his features.

Steve… felt like his chest had been ripped open, and everything inside it torn out.

Of all of them that Steve had thought might not survive this fight… he had never thought it would be Tony.

He had come so far, their impossible genius. He’d been invincible. He had always walked away from every fight, battered and bruised and bleeding, but he always walked away. His armor kept him safe. Kept him protected.

It had never once occurred to Steve that… this was the price they would have to pay.

Oh, dear God… what were they going to tell Rhodey and Pepper?

“JARVIS…” How could he even begin to move on from this? How could he find the way forward?

“My apologies, Captain Rogers. Agents Romanoff and Barton. Doctor Banner. Thor. I beg your forgiveness. My purpose no longer exists. And my usefulness is no more. It has been a very great honor to fight alongside you all. But I cannot continue. Not without Sir. Farewell. And goodbye.”

The small lights that had shown that the Iron Man suit had power slowly faded. The arc reactor that powered it dimmed and went out. 

As Tony’s most fantastic creation dissolved himself into nothingness… what was left of the original Avengers that had begun this journey sat on a barren, battle-wrecked patch of earth.

And cried.

**Author's Note:**

> I KNOW, IT'S AWFUL, I'M SORRY! Here, go watch a [words for link go YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc8-8KfIW5c) with funny animals while you recover.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Status Report](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19200493) by [LBibliophile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LBibliophile/pseuds/LBibliophile)




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